Division 1 Roundup - Week 17

Sasaki Extended Advantage

The 17th round of League fixtures in Division 1 saw the leaders extend their lead at the top, whilst the battle for runners-up spot gets a little bit closer, in a week of one 5-5 draw and three closeish wins.

The feature match of the week pitted leaders, Milton Keynes Sasaki, away to second-placed Leighton Buzzard Avengers.  It was Sasaki who came out 6-4 winners, to extend their lead at the top to a seemingly impregnable 17 points with just four matches to go, although the individual honours once again went the way of Avengers' Fabrice Spelta.  However, the combined efforts of Michael Wilkins, William Kit Liang and Minesh Pitamber saw them emerge with the win, as Michael and William each won two singles, also winning the doubles against Fabrice and Matteusz Browarnik, and Minesh won one singles.  In return, Matteusz won one singles for Avengers to add to the treble by Fabrice, whilst Steve Jordan was unable to add to their tally, whilst Fabrice, although winning all three of his singles, was pushed all the way to a fifth leg in each of them, including 11-7 in the decider against Michael to end Michael's run of 16 singles wins on the trot, and 11-9 against William, whilst Matteusz equally needed 11-9 in the fifth to edge out Minesh.  Fabrice's three singles wins extend his own run of wins to 19, as he edges closer to Michael at the top of the Individual Averages.

Milton Keynes Phoenix have moved up to third place following their 7-3 win over seventh-placed Leighton Buzzard Spitfires, although still eight points behind Avengers, but with a match in hand.  Mervyn Phillips did much of the damage for Phoenix, with a maximum, including the doubles with Alan Bolding against Graham Silversides and Filip Simek for Spitfires, with backup from Alan with two singles wins plus Ivor Howard with one.  For Spitfires it was one win each for Graham, Filip and Andy King, with the closest set of the night being when Andy just prevailed against Ivor at 12-10 in the decider.

Third-placed Chackmore Hasbeens were held to a 5-5 draw by sixth-placed Milton Keynes Sharks, thus dropping to fourth place, a point behind Phoenix.  For Hasbeens, Bub Burman remained unbeaten, scoring a maximum, including yet another doubles win with Andy Whitehead, here against Rupert Greyling and Derick Rodrigues.  Sam Willett added another singles win for Hasbeens to provide their five points, whilst for Sharks it was two singles win apiece for Rupert and Derick, plus one win for Abhay Tijare.  The five points for Sharks pulled them four points clear of the relegation zone, also with a match in hand.

In the remaining match, fifth-placed Milton Keynes Pumas were pushed hard by eighth-placed Mursley Hawks, but came through to record a 6-4 win, with Andy Smith collecting another three singles wins, although he had to battle hard against David Bartlett, as he was pushed to 15-13 in the decider.  Three further singles sets went the distance, with David again unlucky to lose out 11-13 in the fifth leg to the Pumas reserve, Keith Carrington, with Keith again going the distance against Ian Spanswick, this time winning 11-8, however, he could not manage all three occasions, losing out in a fifth, from two legs up, against Martin Johnson.  Adam Snowdon added the final point for Pumas with a singles win, whilst for Hawks it was two singles wins for Martin and one singles win for David.  However, the set of the night has to be the doubles!  Andy and Adam seemed to be cruising to an easy win for Pumas against David and Ian, after two convincing legs to go two legs up, and they were 6-0 in the third leg, but suddenly fortunes switched.  From that point, the Hawks pair put together a run of 18 points on the trot to win the third leg and then go 7-0 up in the fourth, going on to take it 11-3, to level up the set at two all.  Inevitably, the deciding leg was close, with Andy and Adam battling back and they had two set points at 10-8 up, but again Hawks rallied and eventually edged it 12-10 in the fifth, for a memorable comeback.

Next week sees Sasaki take on Spitfires, Avengers hosting Sharks, Phoenix at home to Hawks and Pumas taking on Hasbeens.

Player of the Week: Fabrice Spelta.
Team of the Week: Milton Keynes Sasaki.